On the tail end of three and 1/3 decades later, the revelation of purpose is the pursuit of creating. May it be through the form of poetry in music, imagery to share with friends and strangers who weren’t there that you wish would’ve been, or the immediacy of wanting to understand how and why things work when they do and more importantly, when they don’t. So much to learn in such little time, that the pitfall of plying the jack-of-all-trades master-of-none card becomes very real. If only we knew what we knew now, back when we were 16. Problem is, you already knew everything when you were 16. F.

Wake up each morning and renew the promises to be a better person, never stopping to pursue, never stopping to create. Art, music, love. Tangibles that represent intangibles. A hummingbird does not live for very long (a price it pays for acrobatic flight). Neither do we, nor our capacity to fulfill our life-long dreams.

TLDR; My worms are overheating and dying in the worm bin, the VW engine has been torn apart to the long block for the past 6 months, opportunities abound at work but I need to grow 3 more heads and a set of arms to rival a Hindu deity. I guess that’s a facet of learning, when you have no other choice but to swallow when you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.

A text message I recently sent, but a message I would like to keep saying forever:

Hi mama, Kat gave birth yesterday afternoon, April 2 at 12:34pm. Everyone is healthy and doing good. I wanted to say thank you first of all for giving me the gift of life, and truly inspiring me to be the best person I could be. I did not expect how much love and how much strength is needed to birth. It truly is a blessing, and I was always reminded of you and all the sacrifices a mother goes through for all her children. I love you mama, and I can only dream to be as great as a parent as you have been to all of us.

Every day is mother’s day, we will never be who we are without you in our lives. Love you!!!

Sometimes it’s easy to humanize our pets, anthromorphosize their actions, and project our own feelings into their psyche. There are those rare moments however, that our relationship with the rest of the world (esp those who do not use words), starts to speak volumes. When we realize that we do not just live in our own world limited to only what we feel and experience, it becomes such a powerful reason to be a better human being. The love we know and share is felt and understood intimately by those we choose to share it with.

For those who haven’t had the pleasure of knowing Nickel’s personality, he normally doesn’t give a fuck. Until that day he and I both knew without a doubt – Kat is one of the strongest women we are truly blessed to have in our lives.

And for that to be said with two black beady eyes? That isn’t anthromorphosizing – he was simply telling the truth.

Sometimes we live with an empty space that we never knew was there, until someone comes and fills it. The best surprises are the ones you never knew you were waiting for. Meanwhile, in the middle of the desert last night, waiting for the moon to rise so we can find out where the hell we are. LOL

Tested another version of the swivel mount during the first day of the year, this time using a wheel-bearing assembly (razor scooter), instead of a wheel caster. I thought it would get rid of a lot of “shake” I was getting from engine vibration, since there is a lot of play in the caster wheel. Looks like it didn’t really make a difference, and most of the excess vibration from the too-stiff motor mounts was getting absorbed by the new Hero 4’s super wide angle anyway. Next project is to replace the motor mounts back to rubber from poly, to smoothen out the bone-jarring idle we started getting after doing the 1.6L 16v motor swap. Or, what about getting a gimbal? $!

The person you need to listen to the most is yourself, not to appease the expectations of other people, but because there is no excuse not putting yourself to a higher standard, especially when that is the only thing that you have absolute control in your life. We do not have to justify our emotions to afford them an ounce of reality. Emotions are fleeting. Act because the truth of your actions are grounded in your beliefs. That your actions ring true to the person you really are, and more importantly, the person you want to become.

Spent the new year under a blanket of stars before the magnificent Eureka Sand Dunes in Death Valley. Absolutely stunning, but beauty always has its price – temps plunging into the 20's overnight froze everything including all our drinking water. Slept in a tent, and woke up at 1am to take a timelapse of the moon sinking behind the mountains around us. As I said before.. if your bed is comfortable, the view is probably not that great.